


Matching Scars

by BitterSnowflake



Category: Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Professor Tom Hiddleston, Social Anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27903145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BitterSnowflake/pseuds/BitterSnowflake
Summary: Sandra avoids professor Hiddleston's seminars because of her social anxiety. One day he knocks on her door wanting to have a chat with her.
Kudos: 11





	Matching Scars

Sandra stared at her English literature professor in shock. What was he doing in the dorms? Professors usually don’t go there to talk to their students, right? Was she in trouble? Was he going to throw her out of his course? Or even go as far as expelling her from the university?

She had missed all mandatory seminars he had had up until now, or rather skipped them because of her social anxiety. She had emailed him about it every time, claiming she was sick or that something had happened. In his replies he had seemed pretty nice about it and he had given her compensatory writing assignments, all of which he had given her a lot of positive feedback on. Even though they had never actually spoken to each other in person, she had always had a good feeling about professor Hiddleston. She loved his lectures and adored the way his eyes lit up when he spoke about literature and writers so enthusiastically. He was obviously very passionate about the subject which made his lectures all the more captivating. He was charismatic and funny too. He was perfect. Why was he here?

“Umm... hi?” Sandra greeted him confoundedly, blushingly closing her morning gown to cover up herself. She was only wearing a pair of short pyjama shorts and an oversized t-shirt underneath it, showing off most of her legs.

“Good morning. You’re Sandra right? It’s nice to finally meet you in person. You’re always so quick to leave when my lectures are finished,” professor Hiddleston spoke in a friendly manner and held his hand out to greet her properly. She blushed as she shook his big, warm hand. Hers was small and cold in comparison, causing her to feel even more embarrassed. “You’re not in trouble, if that’s what’s bothering you,” he assured her with a smile.

“Oh, good,” Sandra said with relief. “Would you like to come inside?” she offered and got even more flustered once realised how inappropriate that might be considered.

“I can’t, but I would like to speak to you. So why don’t you get dressed and we’ll take a walk around campus,” professor Hiddleston suggested. “I’ll wait outside.”

“Oh, okay. I suppose I could do that,” Sandra mumbled nervously. Now that he had seen her, she couldn’t exactly claim that she was too ill to join today’s seminar.

“Don’t forget your notes for the seminar,” professor Hiddleston reminded her, making her realise that it had been his plan all along, to make sure she didn’t miss it.

“Damn it,” Sandra muttered to herself, managing to stub her toe against the bed as she hurriedly tried to get dressed. Jumping around on one leg, she managed to fall and hit her head against the edge of the desk. “Fucking hell,” she cursed to herself at her own clumsiness and winced at the pain in her head. Not wanting to risk that her professor thought she was planning on skipping his seminar, she ignored the sharp pain in her head and finished getting dressed. Hurriedly she grabbed the notes she had prepared for the seminar and put them in her bag, which she threw over her shoulder before heading out.

Professor Hiddleston gave Sandra a concerned look as she walked up to him.

“Are you alright?” he asked with a slight frown as he looked at the small cut on her forehead.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Sandra assured him, though her head was still throbbing with pain.

“You’re bleeding,” professor Hiddleston told her.

“I am?” Sandra asked surprisedly and raised a hand to touch her forehead. It was wet with blood and she could feel a small opening in her skin. Professor Hiddleston grimaced slightly as he watched her touch her wound and pulled out a handkerchief from his suit pocket to press it against her wound.

“You should probably not touch it,” he advised her as she took over to press the handkerchief against her wound. “You probably need stitches for that. I’ll take you to the hospital,” he told her.

“Oh, you don’t need to do that. I am good to go on my own,” Sandra told him embarrassedly, though she was feeling a bit dizzy. She felt quite relieved that she was presented with the perfect excuse to miss the seminar.

“I don’t think so, I’m taking you,” professor Hiddleston insisted.

“But what about the seminar?” Sandra objected.

“I’ll have a colleague take it for me,” professor Hiddleston assured her. “Right now we need to focus on what’s most important.”

Sandra blushed at his words. He thought she was important.

“I feel so embarrassed,” she told him as they walked up to his car in the campus parking lot.

“Don’t be,” professor Hiddleston assured her and pointed to a thin scar on his forehead. “I had a similar incident a few years back.”

“It must have hurt,” Sandra said sympathetically.

“It did. Which is why I’m certain that you’re in more pain than you want to let on,” professor Hiddleston told her as he opened the car door for her.

Sandra climbed into the passenger seat of his car and looked at herself in the rear view mirror. She had dried blood on her forehead and some in her blonde hair. She moved the blood stained handkerchief slightly to inspect the damage and grimaced at the sight of a gash on her forehead. She quickly put the handkerchief back against the open wound and sighed. It was definitely going to leave a scar.

Once they got to the crowded emergency room, Sandra realised that she would probably have to wait for a few hours before her turn. She pointed it out to her professor and told him that she would be alright by herself, but he insisted on staying with her. They found a corner to sit in and professor Hiddleston went to get them some coffee. When he came back he handed her the coffee and smiled warmly at her.

“Seems like we’ll have plenty of time to talk,” he said as he sat down next to her. Sandra smiled nervously in response and took a sip from her coffee as she kept her left hand pressing the handkerchief against the wound. “Like I said before, you’re not in any trouble or anything, Sandra. I just find it curious that you’ve not missed a single lecture, but always manage to get sick when it’s time for my seminars,” he told her with a slight frown. “Why is that?”

Sandra looked down embarrassedly. Of course he had figured out that she was avoiding his seminars. What she hadn’t expected was that he would actually try to figure out why. She didn’t know what to reply. She should probably just tell him the truth.

“I have social anxiety, so I’ve been avoiding the seminars,” she confessed and felt her eyes fill with tears. She felt so stupid.

“Oh, you should have just told me Sandra,” professor Hiddleston replied sympathetically. “I’m sure we can come up with a solution that we’ll both be comfortable with.”

“Really?” Sandra asked and looked up at him with watery eyes.

“Of course. I don’t want to make you do anything you’re not comfortable with. I have some ideas on how to make this easier for you,” professor Hiddleston told her. “I can give you writing assignments, or you could have a private chat with me about the subject at hand, or you could pick one or two friends from class to have a small seminar with. If you have any more suggestions, I am more than willing to listen. I think we could try all three options during this course and see what works best for you. How does that sound?”

“It sounds good,” Sandra said, feeling relieved that he didn’t insist on her going to the seminars despite her social anxiety. Professor Hiddleston proved to be more understanding and compassionate towards her than she had ever dared to imagine. All of his suggestions on how to tackle the problem sounded good to her.

“How about we go for option two right now and have a chat about Hamlet,” professor Hiddleston suggested.

“Sure,” Sandra replied as she put down her coffee and pulled out the notes from her bag.

“Looks like you’re well prepared,” professor Hiddleston said approvingly and Sandra blushed in response.

They had a quite relaxed and rather pleasant conversation about Hamlet. Sandra completely forgot that she was being examined on the subject, until professor Hiddleston told her that she had passed with flying colours. They continued to talk about literature until it was Sandra’s turn to see the doctor.

“Would you like me to come with you?” professor Hiddleston offered.

“If you want to,” Sandra replied. She did feel a bit nervous about getting stitches.

The examination of the wound went quickly, the doctor cleaned it out and before Sandra knew it, it was time for the stitches. Professor Hiddleston must have noticed how uneasy she felt, because he placed his hand in hers and smiled encouragingly at her.

“It’ll be over before you know it,” he assured her. And he turned out to be right. It hurt a bit to get the stitches in place, but it didnät take long at all.

After the doctor’s visit, they got out to professor Hiddleston’s car together. Before they got inside, he turned to Sandra with a smile.

“Looks like we’re going to have matching scars,” he told her humorously. Sandra laughed in response and smiled at him. She didn’t feel as bad about the thought of having a permanent scar on her forehead, now that she thought about how her professor had one too. If he could pull it off, why not she?


End file.
